Blast hits Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut suburb: report

January 21, 2014 - 13:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - An explosion has hit a Hezbollah stronghold in a Shia-dominated southern suburb of Beirut. Hezbollah's al-Manar TV showed flames pouring from the facade of a multi-storey building, with large plumes of smoke, according to BBC News.

Two people were reported killed and 20 injured.

There has been a spike in sectarian tension in Lebanon blamed on the conflict in neighboring Syria. Hezbollah forces have been fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, while Lebanese Sunni Muslims tend to back the Syrian opposition.

Al-Manar said the blast occurred in Arid Street in Harat Hreik district. Large crowds could be seen gathering at the scene.

It is the latest of several recent explosions in Lebanon. Five people were killed and many others injured by a bomb blast on 2 January in the same Beirut district.

Former minister Mohamad Chatah, a Sunni and a critic of Hezbollah, was killed with five others by a car bomb in December.